The prominent 14,266.1-foot (4,348 m) fourteener is located 13.4 miles (21.6 km) southwest by south (bearing 214°) of Idaho Springs in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States, on the drainage divide between Clear Creek in Arapaho National Forest and the North Fork South Platte River in Pike National Forest.

[15] The bottoms of many of these contain tarns, the most notable being: The Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway consists of State Highway 103 from Idaho Springs, Colorado on I-70 about 13 miles (21 km) to Echo Lake, and Colorado 5 from Echo Lake 15 miles (24 km), ending at a parking area and turnaround just below the summit.

[21] Albert Bierstadt and his guide, William Newton Byers, approached the mountain along Chicago Creek from Idaho Springs in 1863.

[27][28] The history of the Mount Blue Sky Scenic Byway is part of a larger story of the Denver Mountain Parks system.

The City and County of Denver initiated the construction of a series of automobile "scenic loops" to allow Denverites to explore the mountains.

[29] One road circuit, Circle G, was to traverse the ridge to Mestaa'ėhehe Pass on to Echo Lake, culminate in a climb up Mount Blue Sky, and loop down to Idaho Springs.

$30,000 was acquired early in 1916 to construct the Bergen Park to Mestaa'ėhehe Pass segment and all seemed to be flowing towards the goal of Mount Evans when the mayor of Denver, Robert W. Speer, appointed W.F.R.

[30] This joint exercise between the City and County of Denver, the U.S. Congress, the State Highway System, and now the Forest Service would be completed with help of a newly formed Federal Agency, the Bureau of Public Roads.

[32] The first survey for the road from Echo Lake to the peak of Mount Blue Sky was made in 1923, finishing the layout by January 1924 despite a flu outbreak in the camp, damaging windstorms, and nearly insurmountable environmental hardships.

[33] Battling the unusual problems that come with high-altitude construction (steam shovels performing only half as effectively at high altitude, difficulty of hauling coal and water, horse suicide,[33] etc.)

The rock foundation and walls remain as a windbreak for mountain travelers, and the viewing platform is one of Colorado's premier scenic overlooks.

[38] At 2:51 pm on July 28, 2012, a weak, short-lived tornado touched down northeast of Mount Blue Sky's summit at an elevation estimated by the National Weather Service of 11,900 feet (3,600 m) above sea level.

Below Echo Lake, the montane forest is dominated by lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and in some areas, blue spruce (Picea pungens), with patches of quaking aspen.

[43] The Mount Goliath Natural Area, jointly managed by the United States Forest Service and the Denver Botanic Gardens protects this grove of old trees.

These prey on bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) and mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus),[45] as well as one of the highest densities of yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventris) in the region.

Prior to glaciation, Mount Blue Sky, Long's Peak and several other summits were monadnocks in an upland Peneplain.

[50] The easy access to the summit provided by the Mount Blue Sky Highway has made it a popular location for scientific research.

Arthur H. Compton conducted pioneering research on cosmic rays on the mountain in 1931, shortly after the road to the summit was completed.

[53] The first accurate measurement of the lifetime of the muon (originally called the mesotron) by Bruno Rossi in 1939, used sites at Mount Blue Sky, Echo Lake, Denver and Chicago.

[54][55] In the summer of 1948, MIT, Cornell, Princeton, NYU, Michigan, Chicago, Denver conducted an intensive experimental program on the mountain and at Echo Lake.

[56] In 1965, the Midwestern Universities Research Association began doing high-energy physics experiments on the summit using cosmic rays to explore energies above those accessible with the most powerful particle accelerators of the day.

[36] Pioneering studies on the effects of altitude training on track athletes were conducted on Mount Blue Sky in 1966.

[64] In March 2022, Clear Creek County approved a proposal to rename the peak to Mount Blue Sky, pending state and federal review.

[67] On March 3, 2023, Governor Jared Polis formally asked the United States Board on Geographic Names to rename the mountain to Mount Blue Sky.

[68] The board delayed any decision after the Northern Cheyenne Tribe requested a consultation, with tribal administrator William F. Walks Along saying the proposed name "conflicted with his nation’s use of the term in their confidential sacred ceremonies.